Wesley Mancini is a well-known and successful artist and businessman. Not just in Charlotte and North Carolina, but around the globe and, more specifically, in the field of textile design for furniture fabrics.
Just this past October 18, Mancini attended the International Society of Furniture Designers Pinnacle Awards Ceremony, where two of his designs were chosen as finalists for the first time fabric design was included as a category. Of the four nominated, his Bauman fabric design was chosen as the winner.
Alongside a beaming photo on Facebook of Mancini with his award, he posted the following:
“At the 25th anniversary of the International Society of Furniture Designers Pinnacle Awards ceremony [with] the inaugural inclusion of fabric design as a category, two of the four finalists for our industry were mine. I’m happy to say I won!”
Hundreds of Mancini’s friends and acquaintances offered words of support and congratulations on his profile.
That comes as no surprise, especially because he’s been so actively involved with arts and culture (both here and around the country) and the local LGBTQ community for many years.
His devotion to support of both likely grew out of a response to the controversy surrounding the 1996 Charlotte staging of “Angels in America,” a play with gay and HIV/AIDS-related themes. In a strikingly anti-gay response to the presentation, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners voted in 1997 to strip public funding from arts groups they deemed as inappropriate.
In response to the local government sanctioning of bigotry and intolerance, Mancini founded the Wesley Mancini foundation in 2000. Over the next decade (and then some) the foundation funded multiple LGBTQ-related nonprofits before bringing the successful project to a close in 2013.
Among a multitude of endeavors he has been involved in to improve and empower the impact of arts and culture in the community, Mancini has served on the boards of the McColl Center for Art and Innovation, The Mint Museum of Craft and Design and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, among others.
He is currently serving on the Arts and Science Council Board.
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